Dawn of the Red Rose
by Grand Duke Jerot
Summary: This is my first fic, and i'm going for it. This is a majorly different AU, where Naruto is trained by the bad guys, Akatsuki. It's more fun to work for the dark side. This fic is first person, Naruto POV  Read more to find out, and please read and review
1. Chapter 1

This is a disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, wouldn't this be the world-renowned manga and anime, while Kishimoto's work would be the fan fiction?

Just to warn my prospective readers, this is a first-person story, much like the Dresden Files. At the beginning of the chapter, it will say what perspective it is being led around from. Typically it will be Naruto, but don't be surprised too much if it tends to change.

AU Changes: Akatsuki has a very different goal than in the anime. They aren't using the bijuu to fuel their doomsday plot. Instead, they see the value of loyal Jinchukiri as a potent force to wield. They take three Jinchukiri: Naruto, Yugito, and Gaara right after they are born. They train them to create the sub organization of Akatsuki: the Red Rose. This group is designed to give the Akatsuki a good reputation before they reveal the actual members, all of which are international criminals.

"Human Speaking"

"_**Human Thinking"**_

"**Inhuman Speaking"**

"_**Inhuman Thinking"**_

Part 1.1

"**Your mission is to enter, and dominate, the Konoha chuunin exams that are happening soon.**" The shadowy figure told me, the voice greatly distorted. If I looked closely, I could see the chakra blue static outline of a person, it's ringed eyes boring into me. But no matter how intense the gaze was, I didn't really feel unnerved. I grinned at these words. After all those years of hard work and training, we were finally ready to emerge from the shadows and do some real work. However, there could be a big problem with the assignment given.

"But what about if they figure out about who I am?" I asked the figure "They might get pretty upset if the realize about me, and what I'm carrying. Not to mention the fact that I would be in the heart of their territory. It would be pretty hard to mount a rescue if they decide to try to repossess me."

"**Don't worry.**" The shadow replied, "**Your birth is one of the greatest secrets in the country. They believe that someone killed you, and that you no longer exist. Only the leader of the village knows the true fate of that child that disappeared so many years ago, and he has made no attempt to take you back. Whether he wants you back in the village or not, we don't know, but we aren't too worried.**"

I nodded. What they said made sense, and the information put most of my worries out of my mind. "But what about Gaara and Yugito? They weren't created to get rid of their 'prisoners'; they were quite possibly the most valuable resources their villages had to offer. Their home villages might try to reclaim their old weapons. And they would probably put a lot of effort into it. Too much for such a small team."

"That will not be a problem." Another figure stated, stepping out from the statues. The man had raven hair and blood red eyes, a look of complete dispassion upon his face. He was adorned with a black cloak that was covered in red clouds. "They have no actual information about what you look like, so they won't recognize you on sight. However, they probably will recognize the moves that their beasts are reputed for, so you need to avoid using youki hijutsu. You will need to rely on the standard jutsu that we instructed you in. To help that, we will be adding a quick release seal to your standard ones. Just focus your normal chakra into it, and the normal flow will return in sixty seconds. It may be slow, but it is the fastest seal we are capable of adding."

All three nodded at this, quickly responding with a "Hai, Itachi-sama." Itachi was almost emotionless, but he knew how to properly prepare for a mission. We had heard about how he became ANBU at 13, years before even the most talented ninja were even considered.

"Who will be posing as our Jounin instructor, Itachi-sama?" Gaara asked from my left.

"Standard shinobi cels all have a Jounin instructor, and should be present for their student's chuunin exams. I assume we have one to better hold together the disguise."

"Yes, we do." Itachi replied. "We needed someone who is knowledgeable about Konoha for this mission, so I was naturally picked. Because my former peers would definitely kill me on sight, I will be acquiring a genjutsu ring from the leader. Kisame will wait outside the village as backup. Also, to avoid suspicion, we will have you use aliases to help put them off the trail. That should prevent anyone from realizing who we are until after we have established ourselves as a potent ninja group."

All three of us nodded again. I could only see my two teammates through the corners of my eyes, so I couldn't really see exactly how they were reacting to the news of our first mission. However, I knew that they were probably grinning eagerly too. All of us knew that this was going to be good.

Part 1.2

Oh, by the way, you're probably wondering who I am. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, ex citizen of Konoha, and the team leader of Akatsuki's next generation: Red Rose. I have been given the name Fumetsu as my squad member alias. My teammates are Gaara and Yugito, squad names Harijan and Fukahi respectively.

I have lived all of my conscious life with the Akatsuki, and don't remember anything beyond that. Since I was able to walk, I was trained to be a strong warrior. When I wasn't training, I was studying about other countries. Yugito joined me so soon; it feels like she was training alongside me forever. Gaara completed our first cel a few years later.

As you can probably guess, the Akatsuki weren't exactly parent material; there were distant guides who led us to power. So, we had to rely on each other for entertainment. We would make sparring games involving stealing bells tied to belt waists; have races, and other competitions of fitness. During the nights, we would attempt to prank the others without caught. I tended to excel in the pranks, coming up with more and more ingenious ways to have fun at my teammate's expense. Our life was much more different than what most other children went through, but we knew nothing else, and we had little reason to complain. They had given us children powers that some adults can't even imagine accomplishing in their lifetimes.

Years later, Orochimaru left Akatsuki after failing to steal Itachi's body. We were told later that the only reason that he hadn't tried to take one of our bodies was because the bijuu protected us from his techniques. I guess I felt grateful for that information, because it meant that the nine tailed fox sealed in me had done something useful in protecting me.

Our teachers made it safer and easier to use the power of our captive tailed beasts by fixing our seals, which were all crafted sloppily when they were originally put into place. We didn't really blame our sealers. They just weren't exactly on the level of Akatsuki's specialists. Akatsuki really knew what they were doing when they applied the seals. Layers upon layers of easy to remove sealing allowed us to regulate and modulate the use of our strength.

Over all those years, we took no missions. We just were trained in every form of ninja art that Akatsuki was willing to put at our disposal. Yugito, with her combination of fine control mixed with raw power, had great potential in genjutsu and the finer Ninjutsu. Gaara had a lot of talent in Ninjutsu, using Shukaku's ability to control sand to put a devastating defensive and offensive, but he still learned various types of ranged Ninjutsu to bolster his already impressive abilities.

However, I still like to think that I had the fun ability of the team. Since it was virtually impossible to kill me due to unnatural stamina and near limitless youki from the Kyuubi, I was trained in taijutsu. Even though I could take almost any hit, I was trained extensively to avoid them. Why waste power on something you could avoid easily. But, it was very hard for me to train taijutsu in Akatsuki. All of the members were either Ninjutsu or genjutsu masters. So, all the effort put into taijutsu was not nearly rewarding as Ninjutsu was. Even though I didn't have the fine control of Yugito, or the natural ability for it like Gaara, but I had way more chakra then them. I could do the higher end Ninjutsu that we learned without breaking a sweat.

And finally, we were finally permitted to take a mission. And this one was no pushover. While we were strong for our age, we were probably not much beyond chuunin level without our youki hijutsu, so we are in for a real challenge with this. We'll all have a good time, though. Gaara especially. With the sand protecting him from injury, he tends to have a daredevil streak. During training, he would do crazy up close attacks without fear of retaliation. I spent years trying to get fast enough to get past his sand shield, and that wasn't even too reliable. Together, we were a strong team, and we knew that we had the abilities to beat down the competition.

Oh, I guess I better give you a description of what we normally look like. I wear black ninja pants and long sleeved shirt, tapered off at the ends with red bandages for the arms, white ones for the legs. On my hands are sleeveless gloves with metal plate backing, and catch-claw fronts with easy release. On top of the shirt, I wear a light, metal plated blood red vest, with the symbol for 'nine' emblazoned upon it in black. Gaara is dressed in a red shirt, with black pants and matching coat. On the sash, in black, is the character for 'one'. Wrapped around him is a red sash that holds his gourd. Yugito wears a pinkish white and black shirt, black pants, and matching gloves over bandages. Oh, and a red sash is wrapped around her waist with a black character for 'two'. That should give you a good picture in your mind as to what we look like.

Part 1.3

After quickly having the seals applied to our bodies, we moved out of the Akatsuki base for the first time. It was so strange. I had seen out of the hideout before, seeing a canyon river with trees running through it, and I had seen nature before. The training room was designed to emulate various natural terrains. But outside, it was nature, as far as the eye could see.

Itachi and Kisame had taken up physical disguises using genjutsu rings. While Itachi looked so different that no one would recognize him for his real face, Kisame really took the cake when it came to changes. His skin was a normal color, his eyes no longer irregularly small. That wasn't the biggest change, though. Under the henge, his sword was not visible at all. I wouldn't have realized who he was if it wasn't for the fact that I knew who he was supposed to be.

"Those rings are really impressive." I told them as I slipped on my sunglasses to help me accommodate to the natural light. Gaara and Yugito followed suit. The natural light was harsh, but not overly debilitating. I was almost sure that I would be able to take them off the next day.

"Our leader has much talent." Itachi replied as emotionlessly as possible. "Also, there has been a change in plans. To help prevent any way of them figuring out where we are from, we are going to take a boat south to wave, then east into the village hidden in the leaves."

All three of us nodded; we understood perfectly the chain of command established within Akatsuki. We were trained to be efficient and precise, and following orders was the core.

So, we headed off east towards the coast. It was a few days, because there were no trees to jump from this far north. Over the days, the three of us removed our sunglasses, and dawned our Red Rose cloaks that Itachi and Kisame had given us. They were very much like the normal Akatsuki cloaks. However, instead of red cloud symbols covering it, there was one large, red rose emblazoned upon the back of each of them. Finally, we were going to establish our names across the world.

From the coast, we met one of Kisame's wave contacts. He was a pirate ship owner, working for the Businessman Gato. His job was normally to patrol the coast of the land of the waves, and sink any ship trying to enter it. You could tell he was a pretty rough person just by looking at him. Apparently, he had recently lost an eye in his line of work, as he wore a bandage wrapped around his head, covering the left side of his face. Within an hour of meeting up with the contact, we were speeding south along the coast in the oversized catamaran.

Now, even with a motorized boat, it took a few more days to get all the way to wave. Also, Gaara was particularly seasick. Even with jutsu to fortify him, he was still very queasy. He spent as much time as possible sleeping, and when he was awake, Yugito and I mocked him for his seasickness. He probably would have tried to beat us up for that, but he was too ill at ease to do anything serious. Itachi stayed out of it; he was above such mocking. Kisame just sat back and smirked at our childish antics.

As we traveled down the coast, it got even mistier and mistier. Something to do with the fact that the further south you travel, the hotter it gets was what the pirate mentioned to us. The annoying part was that with low visibility. The boat could crash at any minute, and we wouldn't know until it was too late. That wasn't too bad though. We were almost there, and probably walk on the water the rest of the way there if we had to.

But finally, we made it to shore. The mist that we had traveled through crept up the rocky beach, which constituted the coastline of wave. If I looked closely, I could see the outline of trees up beyond the beach. When we landed on the shore, some of Gatou's men were waiting for us. Apparently the crime boss was desperate to isolate the small country, by the amount of pirates waiting for us to dock. However, it was quickly cleared up. After our driver talked to some of his colleagues, who looked every bit as rough and thuggish as he, we moved out.

Part 1.4

"So, what's our rout out of here?" I asked Kisame, who was leading us through the area. He was ex Hidden Mist after all. Even though he probably hadn't been here for years, he probably knew this place like the back of the hand.

"Well," Kisame replied, his voice still similar to the original. "I talked to Homura before we left, and he said that the easiest way to Konoha would be to take the bridge that the local dissidents are building. It's not completed, though it would be a simple matter to jump off and walk the rest of the way. The quickest way is through this forest, southwest until we come to it."

"That plan will do, Kisame." Itachi replied, "It is imperative that we avoid the locals. They wouldn't recognize us, but I don't want to be involved with these 'dissidents'. It would be a massive waste of effort to involve ourselves in some local dispute that doesn't involve us."

All of us nodded, even Kisame. Itachi was someone you didn't disrespect. He could mentally torture you into a coma in a matter of seconds with the mangekyou sharingan. If you were near him, you followed his commands.

This time, however, trees were abundant, which allowed us to rapidly jump from tree to tree, making travel time take a fraction of what it should. It took Gaara, Yugito, and I a while to get used to jumping from trees because we weren't used to it too much. However, it barely took any time to get the hang of it. With our preferred mode of travel, combined with the small size of the island, we quickly made it to the bridge.

However, the sight that met us there was not what we expected at all. A silver haired Konoha Jounin, a black haired boy, and a pink haired girl stood over a corpse that appeared to be wearing a leaf headband. Opposing them was a strange man wearing only pants and a large sword, accompanied by a slight female wearing a hidden mist tracker mask.

"Damn it." Itachi exclaimed. "I didn't want to have to get involved with this struggle. It is irrelevant to the mission."

"Well, let's face the music." Kisame replied "I'm going to go get chummy with the locals." Grinning maniacally, he pulled the genjutsu ring off his finger. The normal, human skin melted off and pooled on the ground, revealing the eerie blue shark skin that characterized this ex mist swordsman. The residue from the skin began to mold and shift shape, eventually changing into the form of his sword. Kisame bent down and picked it up, resting it on his shoulder.

"Take Naruto, Gaara, and Yugito with you." Itachi told his partner. "I want this fight over as quickly as possible, and my moves are too recognizable to fight here with. And now, Kisame, you're going to have to take my original role as the group's Jounin sensei, because they are going to see who you really are."

"Very well, Itachi." Kisame turned towards us, and motioned. "I'll back up the Jounin. You take care of the brats. Try not to show off too much of your powers. It would best if you left most of your techniques hidden for the chuunin exam." All three of us nodded, and we exited out of our cover, trying to get this fight over as quickly as possible.

A.N.: I apologize for the short chapter. This introduction was supposed to be a quick one, just setting the tone for what is to come. If you haven't noticed, Gaara is not an insomniac in this book, because they made the seal safer to channel the youki, as well as mentally shielding the Jinchukiri. Don't know what I will do for pairings, if any. Please review, because that's what makes me post more chapters. They tell me how much the interest in the story is, so I know if it's worth it to continue. I expect about five before I make a new chapter. I do have the second chapter, but I'm just waiting for reviews to post it.


	2. Chapter 2

-1First, I would like to thank all of you who read and reviewed. I got 3 reviews and 2 alerts in the first four hours of that being posted. I know I'm not used to this site, but I am thinking that that's not all that bad. And, as the great reviews are rolling in, I will continue with my story. Just to let you guys know, Naruto is very sarcastic as part of Red Rose. He isn't exactly evil yet, per se, but he isn't too nice of a person. All he cares about is his team first, and succeeding second. However, I shouldn't tell this to you. I should show it through my writing. So, with those words, on with the fic!

Part 2.1

While Itachi held back in the trees, Kisame, Yugito, Gaara and I burst out of the trees, rapidly making our way next to the Konoha forces. They jerked back, kunai in hand. I blocked both of the genin's kunai with my hands, slapping them to the side. Thank god for metal plates underneath bandages. Kisame just sidestepped the silver haired jounin's jab.

"Don't worry; we're here to help." I assured them before they could launch another attack. The black haired boy just glared at me. The pink haired girl backed off. Too trusting. Bad ninja material. Yugito quickly stepped in, "We wanted to pass over the bridge, but your opponents are in the way. We'll help clear them and be on our way." Both of the genin glanced toward their Jounin instructor.

"We're going to the chuunin exams." Kisame explained to the Jounin. "We don't want any trouble with our hosts. Let us help."

The silver haired Jounin paused for a moment before nodding to his genin. "I'm Kakashi. These are my students, Sakura and Sasuke. Those ninja just took out my third student, Junkorin Ichinose. We think he's almost dead. And this is Tazuna, the bridge builder." He motioned towards the grizzled old man next to him. "We don't know who the one in the mask is, but the other one is Zabuza Momoichi, the demon of the bloody mist." Kisame just grinned evilly at this.

"Zabuza, you say?" He said. "Let me take care of him, Kakashi. You and your team should take Ichinose and heal him." The shark-man turned towards us. "Fumetsu, Harijan, Fukahi. Take care of the masked one." We nodded. "Is that okay with you, Konoha squad? I assure you we can eliminate them."

Kakashi looked at Kisame, as if attempting to analyze him with his red eye. "How do I know I can trust you?" He asked, his muscles visibly tensing, which even I saw.

"If I wanted to kill your team, I wouldn't have come in so obviously." Our leader replied nonchalantly "You would only register my attack right before you were hit."

The konoha jounin stood there still unsure.

"And, we're letting you leave." I called out "Even if we didn't have the stealth, we would stay between you and your escape route. We can't remove your teammate and charge from the field for you; I wouldn't even trust another ninja team from my own village to do that unless I knew them pretty well."

"If you don't trust us, leave one of your surviving students here." Kisame told him, trying to sell the deal. "I promise he won't die."

The white haired jounin paused for a moment, then nodded at Kisame "Very well. Sakura! Take Tazuna and Ichinose back to Tazuna's house and secure the premises. I'll follow behind. Sasuke, you stay here. Hold back unless you deem it necessary to fight."

As the Konoha Jounin gave orders to his subordinates to retreat from the battle scene, I looked at the woman in the mask. Before entering combat, one must evaluate their opponent. One of the first lessons we learned. "Any guesses on our opponent's abilities?"

"She wears pretty dainty and formal clothing, even for a kunoichi." Yugito said, analyzing her looks. "Ranged Ninjutsu or genjutsu. Either that, or completely incompetent. Though, that's probably not the case, considering she has a mist tracker mask. I'm guessing low Jounin level."

"The fact that she doesn't have a sword like Kisame means she probably doesn't have too much physical strength." Gaara commented, "She's probably light and fast, relying on evasion to avoid being knocked out."

"That sounds just right." I told my teammates. "The clothing looks heavy, and the sleeves are large. I'm guessing a weapon specialist. They tend to hide their weapons for further edge."

By that time, the silvered haired jounin and the pink haired genin had left the bridge with their charge and teammate. That left the sulky raven haired boy.

"What's your name?" I asked him. It's always good policy to know the name of the person that you're working with. Well not so much as their name, but something to call them. You want to be able to warn them, after all. Yelling 'Hey, you!' is kind of a liability on the battlefield.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke" He replied, with a hint of arrogance in his voice. Oh, shit.

Part 2.2

This is not good. Not good at all. In fact, this is terrible. Of all the possible genin in Konoha, it had to be Uchiha Sasuke. The only one I'm familiar with. In case you haven't put two and two together, he's the little brother of Itachi. In normal circumstances, that would be good, meeting relatives of your boss. But being a ninja, especially in Akatsuki screws that tradition up pretty badly.

You see, to get into Akatsuki, it was necessary to commit a terrible crime, one that would leave a permanent stain on your name. Sasori killed the third Kazekage and turned him into a puppet. Kisame abandoned the seven swordsmen and killed a feudal lord. However, Itachi beat them all out with his act. He killed his entire family, effectively destroying the sharingan. But he spared one person. His little brother. Uchiha Sasuke. And stuff like that tends to carry emotional baggage. If he figured out I worked with his brother, he would probably try to come at me full force.

"The last Uchiha, eh?" I asked nonchalantly, hoping that my recognition didn't get past my mask of impassiveness. I didn't bother to look at my teammates. I know they were probably stunned as well, but we're professionals. We don't show that kind of stuff. Especially with material as dangerous as this. "Well, Sasuke, while Kisame-sensei takes care of Zabuza, the four of us are going to take out the other one. Do you know anything about her techniques?"

"Well, I met _him _only once." Sasuke said, putting emphasis on the _him_. "He used senbon to kill Zabuza, or so we thought."

"A cross dresser?" Gaara asked. "Freaky."

I just nodded at this. So strange. The weirdest part Gaara tended to have a good nature about weird things. He _is _a jinchukiri, after all. But I guess some of us have our limits of tolerance. But I do have to admit, cross dressers do freak me out a little bit.

"We've deduced that he's fast and light." I told Itachi's little brother. "A few strong hits should knock him out. Are you fast at all?"

"Fastest in the academy's graduating class." He remarked smugly. "And the smartest, and the strongest."

God. Now I understand why Itachi killed the entire clan. I probably would have as well, given the chance. I'm just thankful that Itachi didn't carry this trait of great Hubris. It would have sucked to have such an egotistical boss.

"Okay, then." I told him, trying not to let the disgust seep through. By the look on his face, I succeeded. "We wait for Kisame-sama's signal, then we engage the enemy. Just follow our lead and you should be okay."

Over on the Jounin front, Kisame and Zabuza appeared to be having a fun conversation. The eyebrow less freak looked like he was going to jump his ex-compatriot any second. And then it all happened.

Kisame gave us the nod to spring ourselves into action right as a blinding mist floated over the bridge, encircling the two jounin. Now, I'm not exactly a master on meteorological events, much less in wave, but I was pretty sure that that wasn't natural. Not only was that not natural, it was not good either. It severed communication between Kisame and I. If things got bad, we couldn't call upon each other for backup. I shook my head. All we had to deal with was one crazy cross dresser. How bad could it get for us?

Part 2.3

"Harijan, try to take our opponent out with your Ninjutsu. It probably won't land, but we're looking to make openings. Fukahi, see if you can get a lock on him. Any sort of incapacitating move is welcome." I began, beginning to hand out orders. "Uchiha. Close or long range?"

"Close." He told me, still holding that smirk of superiority. For a second, I began to think about how large that stick must be crammed up his rectal cavity. I mean, how stuck up do you have to be to constantly feel better than anyone around you?

"Good" I told him, sighing inwardly. "You're with me. Stay out of Fukahi and Harijan's ways, and try to hit him with everything you've got. If you can't hit him, just try to get him vulnerable." The genin just charged forward as soon as I paused. He was probably going to die here. "Remember," I called after him weakly, "Teamwork is key!" After nodding to Gaara and Yugito, I jumped along into the fray with our Konoha counterpart.

The last Uchiha wasn't doing too bad actually. He had locked up one kunai against the three senbon that the creepy tracker ninja held in his hand. But that didn't last for long. All I saw was the nin making a sign with his hand before blasting Sasuke away with a jet of water from his hand.

"You're pretty good!" I called out, trying to draw his attention. Maybe Gaara and Yugito could hit him if I kept him in one spot. "One handed seals! Even I can't do that reliably. And was that Water Bullet no Jutsu-" I cut my banter mid-sentence. Gaara had thrown a nasty fireball at the cross dresser, which he escaped with ease.

"You are going to need more than distractions to take me down." A light voice floated from under the mask. Creepy. If I didn't take the Uchiha's word, I would be convinced that behind that hunter's mask would be the face of a beautiful woman. But the raven haired nut job didn't seem like one to lie. It was probably beneath him. I gathered chakra into my hands and tensed my legs. I saw that the cross dresser noticed, but maybe I would get lucky.

"Okay, then how about this?" I asked, jumping towards him, releasing the chakra from my hands. Forceful winds capable of knocking strong men over galed out. Just like I expected, the boy dodged. But what he did next took me completely by surprise.

Part 2.4

In the world of ninja, you are expected to see strange things every day. Controlling lightning, fire, water, you name it. Sasori turned himself into a puppet, even. However, I do believe that this cross dresser took the cake for crazy moves.

He took the water from the ocean, the air, and even puddles on the ground, and formed them into a sphere of floating mirrors around me. I had no idea what he was going to do with these strange constructs, but I knew that it wouldn't be good.

Then the next moment, to my surprise, it was raining senbon from every degree. I normally wouldn't have bothered to dodge, since I usually am unkillable. But now with my powers blocked by a temporary seal, I had to block with a shield of bunshin. This was going to get very painful very fast. Without the very efficient energy of the Kyuubi fueling all of my moves, even a bunshin shield was going to waste a lot of energy. Within three or four more assaults like that, I would have to rely on speed to continue the fight.

"Impressive move you've got there," I called out, not really caring whether my opponent heard me. "What's the trick? Genjutsu multiplying senbon through mirrors? Harijan!, Fukahi!" I rose my voice, to make sure that they heard me. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to go all out on this fight. Try to crack the mirrors. They seem to be part of the problem." I started the process to return the power to beat this hunter nin to a pulp.

But then things just got worse. In bound Sasuke, panting, with that smirk still plastered on his face. "I came to save you, Fumetsu-teme. Let's take this guy out. " I shook my head. Didn't anyone just take him down a notch once in a while, even if just for his own good.

"It would have been easier to do if you stayed on the outside, you know." I told him, as if it was obvious. He just looked away at this. Score! One notch knocked down! "But let's get to work. We need to keep him busy until Harijan and Fukahi can break down this jutsu. Dodge his assaults, and try to make it outside."

"You can't escape" The boy's voice echoed from each of the mirrors. An image of him appeared in each of them. "I travel from mirror to mirror with this kekkei genkai, which builds upon my natural speed. I move at near the speed of light. No attempts to escape will be successful."

Damn. I didn't know whether he was bluffing or not, but those words still were a swift kick in the pants. I had to keep Sasuke's ego up, or he would become a liability. Not to mention, I needed to burn time until the power got back into my system. "What's your name, cross dressing freak? I don't want to have to know you as cross dressing freak after I kill you." There. The mixture of defiance with rudeness should unsettle him.

However, it didn't work. "My name is Haku. I have already gathered that you are known as Fumetsu. Your name claims that you cannot die. Shall we find out?" Senbon appeared in Haku's hands. "I will start out with one, just like the first time. Each successive time, I will increase the number by one. Eventually, it will be impossible to avoid, and we will have to truly test your name." He said impassively, as if giving a lecture.

Damn it. Only one a mirror? But it felt like so many. It couldn't possibly be worse. Just a few more seconds, and I would have all that energy at my fingertips, enough to obliterate him. I could hear Gaara and Yugito hammering away at the mirrors with all the Ninjutsu they could use without opening their seal. They probably wouldn't release theirs, because of the common trademarks of their bijuu. But it was to no avail.. Not a single mirror even cracked under their assault. It was up to me to save the day.

But then the senbon rained down again. Once more, I summoned my bunshin shield to block. If I was going to be able to be completely recharged in a second, it really didn't matter if I blew it on a shield. Pain was annoying, and definitely worth avoiding. Oh, and I think Sasuke made through the assault. I saw a few sticking out of him, but he didn't have the chakra for a proper bunshin shield.

But even with my bunshin shield, one got through, right in the shoulder. I couldn't even move my arm. It didn't matter. In a few seconds, the energy would rush back to the rest of my body, completely healing any wounds. Yep. Any second now.

But the power didn't come. The sealers couldn't have screwed up. They were loyal to Akatsuki and Red Rose, as well as being very talented in the ancient form of seals. So that left one thing. The senbon had somehow blocked my chakra flow. Crap. This day was getting worse and worse, and we haven't even started our mission yet.

Chapter 2.5

"Senbon are precision weapons." The cross dresser commented, his words echoing around the sphere. "They can hit pressure points. For example, Fumetsu-san, I just hit you in the shoulder. Now it is impossible for you to move your arm. " He said all this with no malice or hate in his voice towards his opponent. How innocent and naive.

But I had to be careful. This Haku, no matter how childlike he was, he was very dangerous. He already stopped me from freeing my powers. This was bad. However, I was probably better off than the last Uchiha. I looked over to Sasuke. And it wasn't exactly a pretty sight.

Honestly, he looked like a porcupine with all the needles sticking out of him. It was amazing that he was still standing. But then I looked closer, and I saw that his eyes were red. Hoo boy. He really was an Uchiha. Just in case I had any doubts about who he was, those red eyes clinched it.

"I finally caught up to his speed." Sasuke told me, grinning. Apparently he saw me looking at him. "The sharingan increases my perception beyond anything I could imagine. Now I think I can take him down."

"Ready or not, here I come." Haku said, two senbon in each hand. Oh, great. One more in each hand. I barely could handle a single one in each hand. Just doubling it is going to be troublesome.

Once again they rained down. I blocked again with my bunshin shield. And with that, I used up all of my chakra. Any more attacks and I was in big trouble. I needed to try to get out of here.

"You're running low on energy." Haku said. "One more attack, and you will be dispatched. After that I can help Zabuza-san with his opponent." Three senbon in each hand this time. And this time I couldn't just block my problems away. I had to get out now, while I could still walk.

I began to run as fast as I could out of the ring. But that didn't work. When someone is able to move near the speed of light, they tend to be able to react pretty quickly. Before I even made it within a few feet of the outer ring, the hunter nin burst out of the nearest mirror and punched me in the face, throwing me back to the center.

"As I told you earlier, you cannot escape." The masked nin told me again. "Now, I am increasing it to four senbon. I don't think either of you will survive it." God, this place was getting annoying.

This time, the senbon didn't rain down. They came at us like a wall. There was no escaping it. I had to grab one of the senbon just to block them. Most of them just bounced off my armor, but a couple more lodged themselves in my useless arm. That didn't matter, because I didn't call it my useless arm for no reason. I made it through that assault not much worse off than before. However, Sasuke didn't hold out so well. In fact, I was pretty sure he was dead.

This was bad, bad, bad. Before, Haku had been dividing his attacks between Sasuke and me. Now, there wasn't a second person to distract him. I had to let out his full chakra now, no matter how hard it would be. I took all the energy I had, and pushed it into my useless arm, hoping that the chakra pressure would be able to push the senbon out. Haku had five senbon in each hand now. It was either do or die.

Chapter 2.6

Well, I guess you could say I did it, rather than dying. The power came rushing through my body. First, it popped out all of the senbon in my arm. Next, my skin turned to a pulsating orange, from the pure amount of chakra. Next, I think my ears turned into those of the nine tailed fox, but I'm not all that sure. I don't normally look like that; I guess it just happens when a lot of youki gets built up and suddenly released into my body. It felt good to have the power back.

First, I poured energy into a shunshin no jutsu, violently body checking one of the mirrors. I think that I even broke some of my ribs, and some internal organs too. But in a second, they were perfectly fine, and the mirror was smashed. Haku tried to attack again, but this time I was ready.

With the power of the fox behind me, I am a heck of a lot faster than without. I could spot his movements. They were a little faster than me, but getting slower by the second. He was getting tired. One good hit would probably take him out. I used shunshin no jutsu again, ramming into Haku's gut with my shoulder. I smiled when I heard his gasp of surprise as he was thrown through one of his own mirrors. It's always more fun if you hurt your opponent with their own jutsu. All of the mirrors shattered and hit the floor. Careful not to damage my sandals on the ice shards, I headed over to my opponent.

I walked over and stood over the prone cross dresser. Several of his internal organs were probably ruptured, by the fact that he didn't even get up. His mask was cracked, and it fell off his face soon after I got to his body. Inside was a very feminine face. He did look a lot like a girl. "Want to surrender?" I asked. He wasn't half bad. Maybe I could recruit him to lead a team for Red Rose, even if he was really creepy. "I might have a job in it for you, if you do."

"I will never surrender," Haku said. "Not while Zabuza-san still needs my help. I am content to give my life for him."

"Why are you so loyal to him?" I asked. I knew that Ninja had a sense of honor, but even the most honorable ninja would consider an offer like that. The least he could do is hear him out.

"He took me in when I needed help" he explained cryptically. Typical of ninja. "I reciprocate by serving his every wish. All that matters is the one who is important to me. Do you have anyone important to you, immortal one?"

"Yes I do." I replied. This conversation was so strange. It was surreal, like this wasn't how life was supposed to be. You don't get to talk to dying cross dressers about philosophy every day, you know. "My teammates. They're the closest thing to family I have. I would do anything for them."

"Would you give your life for them?" Haku asked. "I know you claim you can't die, but if your life was yours to give, would you give it up to save them? I know I would with Zabuza-san."

"Without a second thought, I would." I replied. Just those words made me feel warm on the inside. I already knew this stuff, but declaring it to stranger really solidified it in my mind. "Not like it matters. Kisame-sensei will probably have ripped your master to pieces by now."

With the little energy he had left, he looked over at the fight. I gazed over there. Kisame was putting the final blow on Zabuza. What timing. I turned back towards Haku. But he wasn't there. What was left was a mirror. But where could he have gone? He was dying. But then I remembered his words, and looked back at Kisame's fight. My opponent had interposed himself between Zabuza and Kisame. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. He did talk about giving his life for this Zabuza character.

But that wasn't what surprised me so much. While we had been fighting, a large mob led by a extremely overweight man had appeared at the land side of the bridge. I'm guessing that that man was Gato. Kisame and Zabuza even noticed, with the pause in their fight from Haku's sacrifice.

Chapter 2.7

"Gato, what are you doing here?" Zabuza asked, evidently surprised. I guess they weren't backup for him. "And what's with all your flunkies?" Apparently, the two didn't get along so well.

"Well, Zabuza-san, there has been a change in plans," Gato replied. You could hear the smirk from here. He made Sasuke look like a humble monk. "I'm sorry Zabuza, but you're going to die here."

"What!?" Zabuza exclaimed. Oh, I'm guessing that he wasn't expecting that to happen either.

"If I rented an official ninja, it would cost a lot of money" The crime boss explained. "So, I rented an exiled ninja like you. If you ninja had just killed each other, it would have saved me a lot of time and money. And you call yourself the Demon of the Village Hidden in the Mist? You're just a baby demon if you ask me!" The entire mob laughed at that lame joke. Damn, I wish I had flunkies who I could make laugh on command.

This whole time, Gato made his way toward the corps of Haku. "Oh, yeah, I owe this guy a favor." He said, rubbing his arm in the cast. "For crushing the bones in my arm until they broke." If Haku broke his arm, I'm pretty sure he deserved it. He didn't seem all that savory of a character.

Than the crime boss stabbed my opponent in the face with his staff. The body didn't even move. "He's already dead. What a pity."

"Kisame, I'm sorry, but the battle ends here." Zabuza said. "My sword is yours. Just grant me the final wish of letting me kill Gato"

And immediately, the swordsman of the mist charged, cleaving the mob boss in two before his subordinates could even do anything. Then he pulled out two kunai and threw the sword to Kisame.

"You are the better swordsman, Kisame-teme." Zabuza said. "And where I'm going, I don't need my sword. Take it and let me choose my own death here." Kisame just grinned and stood there. Strange. Kisame was never the mercy kind of guy. He was more likely to mutilate someone rather than knock them out. But they shared a history of being swordsmen of the mist together. He probably did it as one last favor. And he did get a cool sword out of the deal.

Zabuza took the kunai and charged the mob. They swung their weapons, but were unable to hit him as he dodged and weaved, cutting open their throats when he saw an opportunity. It was inspiring to see such reckless abandon. However, it didn't last long, because with those numbers, someone was bound to get him eventually. And fall he did. I couldn't see who took him out, but I knew that he took many of his opponents with him to the other side. But even with Zabuza's help, there was a massive horde of thugs, angry with us. Fun.

Chapter 2.8

But we got lucky. Yugito and Gaara weren't too badly tired from trying to beat Haku's dome to conjure up some nasty sweeping Ninjutsu. Eventually, we pushed the entire horde off of the bridge and into the ocean. Those who didn't drown would probably be beaten up by villagers. Without Gato to de facto legalize them, and their numbers to keep anyone from defying them, they had no hold.

But that still left the matter of Itachi's brother. He had been killed by Haku. Or so we thought. When we came to pick up the body, he was moving. Apparently, Haku hadn't used any kill points. So, we headed down the road to meet the Konoha Jounin, Kakashi, I think. We handed Sasuke over to him, and explained what had happened on the bridge. His charge seemed particularly relieved that Gato had been killed. Apparently, he had been hassling his efforts to create a bridge between the country and the mainland, as Gato controlled all shipping into the country.

After taking care of loose ends, we headed out. As we left, we saw them putting up an ornate sign on the bridge. It read "Great Uchiha Bridge". I just can't wait until I tell Itachi about this one.

A.N. Okay, thank you for all the support. This is going to be more like what the length of chapters is going to be. However, it will fluctuate depending on chapter. A single fight might take up an entire chapter, like her, or it could be like the entire second exam. Still debating on that one. So It'll normally be around 5000 words a chapter, but don't always count on that. As for the next chapter, I don't know when I will have it ready, but I will post it as soon as completed.

If anyone is interested in editing this fic, I am open to offers. Just pm me and I will get back to you. I have a few criteria though. If I give you a chapter, I need it back and edited in 72 hours or less. That way I can keep up on chapters with good speed. Editors are allowed to change the chapter's plot, but have to send me the idea ASAP. Suggestions are welcome, but I make the final cut. Also, editors are allowed to add their own notes to the end along with my Author's Notes.

And remember, the more reviews I get, the quicker I will write the new chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

-1Welcome back to chapter 3 of Dawn of the Red Rose. I hope that you readers enjoy my work, I know I do! However, after the first chapter, reviews seemed to die. I'm not too worried about it. I'm writing to get this idea out more so than for getting gratification. Though if you guys could give more feedback, maybe some questions, I would love the show of interest. Speaking of interest, does anyone want to do some editing? It would mean having some editorial power with the fic! The terms are in the previous chapter if you're interested. Well, I've said my pre-chapter words. On with the fic!

Chapter 3.1

After leaving Wave, we headed towards Konoha. As we headed further inland, it got dramatically warmer. A day into the trip east, I just removed the sleeves from my black ninja shirt. I only had to re-fix my bandages to accommodate for the looseness, and I was on my way. No worries. I knew that at least Kazuku and Sasori knew how to sew. If I needed to, I could get them re-attached with little difficulty. Or, with all the money Akatsuki had gathered, I bet they could loan me a few ryu for a new shirt.

The time passed much more quickly as the trees became more common. By the third day, we traveled exclusively by tree, miles away from the common path into Konoha. Even with the genjutsu rings, erring on the side of safety was still the general policy. Don't risk exposure until you need to. As we got further into Fire Country territory, Itachi split up with us. Risking our anonymity by having more people than the four man cel traveling. No worries. They could convey messages through their member rings if it was really important.

Once at a rest stop for the night, Kisame came over to me. Now, I wasn't exactly scared, but I was still a little bit nervous. Kisame wasn't as introverted as Itachi, but he wasn't exactly a saint either. "You did well in the Wave fight." He told me, his fish eyes creeping me out. I nodded, worrying that speaking would betray my unsettlement. The shark man didn't notice. His forte never was perception. "Well, as a reward for winning that fight, I have some payment for you." And he placed Zabuza's sword right in my lap. Now, this really surprised me. It literally came out of nowhere.

"From your conversation at the end of the battle, it looked like you were fighting him to get at his sword. Why work so hard to get it, then give it to me?" I asked. Before I found out whether I pissed him off, I hastily added, "Not that I'm not grateful for it."

Fishman laughed heartily. "Good. I like polite subordinates. But the reason I am giving this to you is because your team needs diversity. Taijutsu is an effective tool, but it hits limits. You could hit jounin level, or even Kage level with it, but the limit is on your body. Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are limited by the amount of chakra you can put into it."

"I don't understand." I replied to him. Akatsuki members tend to be eccentric, but usually you can keep a conversation going if you try. "What will a sword to change my levels. Aren't I just trading my fists and feet for a blade?"

"This isn't _any_ blade." Kisame explained. "This is a _Nidaime_ _Mizukage _Blade. The Second Mizukage had these made by Katanawotsu. Seven blades, each of which has the power to change the course of a nation." Jeez. I never knew that Kisame had such a flair for the dramatic. "These weapons are jutsu amplifiers. Even without having the natural essence of water element, by being able to handle one of these swords, you're a master of water jutsu. Each sword also has a unique jutsu that only a true wielder of the sword can use. Three are Ninjutsu, three are Genjutsu, and one is Taijutsu." Coolio. "Zabuza's and mine are the Ninjutsu kind, just in case you're wondering."

"What can Zabuza's sword do?" I asked, looking down at the oversized blade in a new light. This stuff was starting to look pretty cool. "And does it have a name like yours? Samehada is pretty awesome."

"Well, it's called Anrui, or silent tears." Kisame told me. "Once you have mastered the sword, and that will take an extremely long time, you can use Hidden Mist Jutsu. It converts chakra into water, and hides you from the naked eye. But there's more." Awesome. I'm starting to like this Seven Mist Swordsmen' deal. "The forged jutsu chakra conversion was low on purpose, allowing raw chakra to leak out into the air along with the mist. It basically makes sharingan, byakugan, and pretty much any chakra based sensory jutsu. It's quite possibly the best weapon you could possibly take into a chuunin exam. Those competitions are crawling with leaf ninja."

Hot damn. I just got a legendary artifact that would enable me to kick Itachi's ass any day of the week I felt like. Somehow, it seemed as if I were part of some badly written novel. I guess that after that last fight in wave, my luck just had to turn around.

Chapter 3.2

Eventually, we made our way to konoha. The village hidden in the leaves. All we could see was a large wall surrounding the village, and some of the buildings through the open gates. It all was very impressive and homely. I almost wish I could have grown up here. The warmer atmosphere beckoned to me, as if it knew I was supposed to be in there. As soon as Kisame had left one last message for Itachi, we broke cover towards the gate.

As we closer, a we noticed a large booth inside the gate. Two konoha nin nodded towards us. Their clothing was mostly neutral colors, wearing almost all grey. Judging by their attire, they were probably more than your run-of-the-mill genin. By their clothing, I would say they were high chuunin or low jounin. The four of us approached the hut.

"We're here for the chuunin exams." Kisame told them. "We're the new ones."

"Sound?" They asked. "But they already showed up." I guess we weren't the only newcomers this year.

"No, Akatsuki." Kisame replied. "We received confirmation six months ago about our entrance. A man by the name of Mizuki signed it." He pulled out a scroll out of his coat, and handed it to the two guards. Damn. Kisame must have been trying so hard to be polite. "Is our paperwork in order?"

One of the guards looked down at the paperwork,, frowned, then passed it on to his neighbor. "Actually, no. Mizuki turned traitor a couple months ago. While he may have sent the confirmation, he probably hadn't filed the application in the Hokage's files before he left. We're going to have to take you to the Hokage himself. He'll clear this up."

"Very well." Kisame said. He really was holding back. At this point, his frustration would probably have pushed him to cut off some legs. "Do my students need to come with me? I want them to secure lodgings for us. I presume that there's no worry about security. Konoha is probably set up on extra security now."

Both of the chuunin nodded. Kisame handed me a roll of notes. Without looking, I ran my fingernail through it, counting the bills without looking. "20 Million Ryo?" I asked, confirming with Kisame.

"That's right, brat." Kisame replied. "We're going to need room for four for two months. That should account for the entirety of the chuunin exam." I handed the money to Yugito. She was always good with money. I, on the other hand always seemed to lose it. As the chuunin led Kisame to the Hokage's tower, we headed into the center of the village.

Chapter 3.2

The first hint of how beautiful this place was when we first entered was nothing compared to our attempts to find a hotel for two months. The building style was eclectic, but somehow it held together well. The abundance of trees also made this more fun for even the least trained in the ninja arts. All in all, it looked like a proper ninja village. Very much unlike the heavily therefore cave we had trained in for all our lives.

"Hey, I'm starving." Gaara complained to us. I swear, he can put more whine into his voice than an entire village combined. "Let's get some food with the extra money."

"I could go for some food too." Yugito said. "Let's go for a Konoha delicacy. I'm voting for dango and tea." Good old Yugito. Going for the lightweight food. I guess that every girl has just a little bit of vanity. But, I guess that sometimes you have to submit to your friends wishes, so I said nothing.

So, we quickly found lodgings as a quaint little place near the center of town. It was easy to get to anywhere from the center. No one else was staying at the hotel yet, so it would be nice and quiet. ANBU would probably be hiding out, watching our every move, but the illusion of security would be comforting. Best part of all, the lodging was cheap, so we had a whole bunch of money for food. After asking the inn keep where we could find a good dango café, we were on our way.

At first, the directions seemed legit, but as we took more and more small detours, we became entangled inside the residential district. It was a beautiful detour, but it was still completely useless nonetheless. I was about to have us turn completely around, and ask for someone smarter's directions, but then we turned upon a very interesting scene.

Some crazy guy in a black suit was throttling someone who appeared to be a ten year old, while some crazy chick with a long black rectangle on her back, and even crazier pigtails was yelling at him. Maybe Konoha had some kind of anger management troubled circus in town? Who knew? But whatever the situation was, I knew it was wrong. Someone had to stop it.

"You better put that kid down!" I called out. "You know, it's kind of a bad thing for a ninja to beat up kids who haven't even finished basic training. Unless you're afraid that he'll beat you up."

That got him. He growled loudly, and threw the kid unceremoniously to the ground. He turned around, revealing the purple makeup covering his face. No wonder. I would probably have anger issues with that on my face. It would feel so unsettling. It would take no time at all for me to go mad from avoiding scratching it all off. It would probably be easier to just have it tattooed on. "I guess that no one around here show's respect!" He drew his hand back, but I wasn't all too worried. He didn't look all too much of the close range type.

"Stop, Kankuro-teme." Came out, stopping the angry adolescent in his tracks. He almost literally froze without moving. I looked around, but couldn't find the person.

"There." Gaara said, pointing up. "The dumbass in the tree." And sure enough, there was someone in the tree. He had long red hair in a ponytail and black rings around his eyes. I guess that he didn't sleep a lot, due to the extremely dark coloration. He wore a red and black shirt along with brown pants and dark blue ninja sandals. Unlike the makeup-adorned freak in front of me, this guy looked like business.

The purple faced, black suited kid didn't even notice our rude words. "Okay, Gaara-sama. Just please don't kill me." Oh, wow.

Chapter 3.3

Looking closer at crazy makeup guy's forehead protector, I realized they were from sand. I just looked at our Gaara, and back at the 'dumbass' one, then back to my teammate. My Gaara just looked at me, and shrugged. Apparently, this was new news to him as well.

"Shut up, Kankuro." Other Gaara said. "Or I _will_ kill you." Kankuro, as I discovered his name was with my _amazing_ ninja perception skills, backed off immediately, and bowed his head towards the creepy redhead in the tree. I guess that this Gaara really was packing a whole bunch of mojo by his teammate's reactions to his arrival. He turned his sleepless eyes towards us. "Who are you… I sense much power from each of you."

"We're the Akatsuki delegation." Gaara told the suna-Gaara, failing miserably to keep the disrespect out of his voice. He always annoyed the heck out of us back at the base. Sometimes the Akatsuki members went extra hard on him just because of his bad manners. "I'm Harijan, the girl is Fukahi, and the idiot blond is Fumetsu."

"Hey!" I cried out indignantly. But my childish antics didn't even dissolve the tension. You could feel that a fight was going to go down here any second.

"I can almost taste how strong you are…" Creepy Gaara mumbled. If we didn't have such good hearing, we probably wouldn't have even heard him.

"Can I teach him a lesson?" My Gaara asked, even more quietly. "He looks dangerous. If I make the first move, I can contain the fight without doing any damage to the surroundings."

"No." I replied, just as quiet. "ANBU is following our every move, probably. If we pick a fight with another country, it would be bad for our rep."

"I doubt that you would win. I am the best genin in our village." Sand Gaara replied. Damn. I was sure that he wouldn't be able to hear us. In fact, I'm almost sure that our conversation was only audible to Gaara and I. This kid was getting weirder and weirder by the second.

"On second thought," I said, slightly annoyed, not even bothering to keep my voice down now. "Kick his sorry ass. He weirds me out too much."

"All right." My redheaded friend replied, quickly forming seals. The freak from Suna just smirked. I wasn't all that sensitive to chakra, but I could feel it. Even with his massive ego, he probably could be able to back this up. This was bad. I gripped Anrui tightly, ready to get into the fray when this spun out of control. I could feel Yugito warming up for the fight next to me.

"Stop." Came out of nowhere. Something about the voice just was filled with authority. Both Gaaras stopped what they were doing and turned to the voice. I turned as well. Balancing on the fence behind the tree was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

Chapter 3.4

"You know, It's not good to get in a fight right before the Chuunin exams" He stated casually "If you get kicked out of Konoha before you even start, it'll be bad for your country." Gaara looked at me. I nodded, and he just freed the chakra directly into the air. I think I heard a cat screech from the released chakra. Suppressing a chuckle, I took a look at the creep from Sand. His smirk was gone, and I couldn't feel his chakra any more. However, Yugito was better at sensing chakra. She was relaxed, so I followed her lead. The Suna freak looked pretty shaken by the last Uchiha.

"Let's go, Kankuro, Temari." The Sand redhead said emotionlessly. The three disappeared along an alley, away from us three.

"Uchiha Sasuke!" I called out. No matter how petulant he had been in Wave, it was heartening to see a familiar person in this village. "Last time I saw you, you were unconscious, and had more needles in you than a porcupine!"

I think I hit a nerve with that, because Sasuke just looked away and grunted. Apparently, even after the fall, Sasuke's pride never really left him. "Well, that was long ago. Now I'm much stronger" Sasuke told me. "But more importantly, you guys shouldn't get in trouble. Akatsuki already has a little bit of a reputation around here."

"Reputation?" I asked, shocked. Shit. If they were on to us, and knew about Itachi and the others, then they were just leading us into a trap. I was ready to break the seal and make a run for it if this turned sour.

"Yeah." Sasuke replied. "When we mentioned you guys to the Hokage, he didn't know about you guys signing up. He was convinced that your team was trying to sneak into the competitions. You guys need to be on your best behavior, or else you'll be in a lot of trouble."

Thank god. They didn't know anything. I eased up almost immediately. In retrospect, I don't think I should have been so paranoid. But when in the middle of the most dangerous village in quite possibly the strongest shinobi nation in the world, you have to be at least a tiny bit careful. "But why sneak in?" I asked, attempting to match the arrogance that Sasuke held in his voice constantly. "We're here to make Akatsuki known globally. If we do well enough, massive funding will come in, and we can start training more."

"Whatever." The not-so-last Uchiha replied flippantly.

"Fumetsu, I'm hungry…" Gaara whined pitifully, hopping from foot to foot as if he needed to go to the bathroom. "Let's go get some food now."

I sighed. Goddamnit. Gaara could really be a pain sometimes. "Fine. Hey, Uchiha, you wanna come? Our treat!"

"Tch. Fine." He replied. "Got nothing better to do. Ichinose is still sick, and Sakura is really annoying." We just snorted.

"You know anywhere good around here?" I asked. "The local favorites are always better than the tourist traps."

"The best place I know is Ichiraku's" He told us. "My team always eats there after practice. It only sells ramen, but the cook says it's the best store not in Stone. He even claims it's better than that."

"Cool. You okay with that, Fukahi?" I asked. Even though I was over joyous with not having to eat dango and tea, I did have to respect the team. Teammates before personal wants. Thankfully she nodded, and we went upon our way, Sasuke leading us.

"Normally, I would be obliged to tell you guys all about Konoha's history, but I know you guys probably already know about here." Sasuke told us, not even bothering to look back. God, his arrogance and ego really irritated me. I mean, it wasn't that bad. If I worked with him long enough, it would be bearable, but until then, it would just be a peeve of mine.

We wound through the hectic sprawl of dwellings that constituted Konohagakure. As we went from the back alleys to the main streets, the more and more they were packed with people. As the time we hit the big road, which ran from the south gate directly to the Hokage's building, it was distinctly difficult to wade though the crowd permeating the street. Honestly, I think it would have been easier to just go by rooftop. But then again, that probably would have attracted some annoying attention from local guard efforts for the exams. The one thing I do know, though, was that all of us were grateful to get out of the street and into the ramen bar.

"Welcome to Ichiraku's!" The old man behind the counter exclaimed excitedly. "What can I get for you today?" All three of us looked to Sasuke, as we never really had had the opportunity to eat ramen before.

"Four medium Miso Ramens, old man" Sasuke said, settling himself down into the bar stool. Old man Ichiraku nodded, and turned away to start cooking.

"So, how's your team doing?" I asked. "Last time we met, your buddy Ichinose was looking pretty bad."

"He's been in the hospital ever since we returned." Sasuke replied, sighing bemusedly at the subject at hand. "He was stable after the first week, but now we're worrying about whether he'll be fit enough for the exams next week. Honestly, we're not all to sure."

"Sucks to be you! Haha!" Gaara exclaimed, obviously getting a burst of energy from his tenant. I threw him a quick glare, glazed with some of my killer intent. He immediately sobered up and recovered his composure. "Are they going to give you a replacement team member for the exam if he doesn't heal in time?"

"Tch. As if." Sasuke replied. "There aren't any genin available who are good enough for the exams. It's just us three rookie teams, and some of the older local teams. And the foreign villages wouldn't be willing to offer us one of theirs."

At this time, the ramen came, and with a unified "Itadakimasu" , we dug in. The ramen was downright delicious. It was a savory delight that accentuated it's taste with various ingredients that had been inserted expertly. It was truly the first piece of art I had ever experienced so well. Gaara and I finished in the first thirty seconds, slamming our bowls back on the tables. Everyone in the bar was just staring at us. Old man Ichiraku grinned foxily "You want seconds?" He asked. Both of us nodded emphatically, and he began to cook up another batch. Eventually, everyone began to return to their meals.

Eventually, everyone had sated their desires for ramen. Sasuke and Yugito only had two bowls each, but Gaara and I had made a silent competition out of it. He tended to be the bigger eater, but eventually, I emerged victorious, my seventeen to his fifteen. We paid the bill, which just barely took a tiny dent out of our budget, but left old man Ichiraku with much more ryou than he had made in any single day. As we completed our meal, Sasuke headed out to check on Ichinose. We bid him goodbye, and headed back to the hotel. We unlocked the door, only to find Kisame already there.

Chapter 3.5

"Where did you kids run off to?" Kisame asked, giving a tone that showed that he really didn't care. He was probably the easiest Akatsuki member to get along with, after all. As long as you didn't piss him off. Because then, you would probably start losing limbs.

"Lunch." Yugito replied. "We had the Uchiha boy show us a ramen bar. It was pretty good. We probably almost spent a million ryou there today."

"You exaggerate, Yugito." Gaara replied. "Naruto and I didn't eat that much…"

"Whatever." Kisame replied, laying down on the bed next to him. " But remember, don't use your real names. If they find out who you are, then we might get in trouble."

"Hai, Kisame." We all replied, not even bothering to add a -sama to the end of his name. Being formal was so boring, and we tried to avoid it whenever and wherever we could.

"How'd the meeting with the Hokage go?" I asked, finally remembering why we had gotten separated from him in the first place.

"Well, the Hokage doesn't like me." Kisame replied. "Apparently, he's heard of my handiwork. But he thinks that my attempt to legitimize our myself by bringing you guys here is admirable, so we're in. Just keep your heads down, and don't cause trouble."

"Hai, Kisame." We replied once more. We were smarter than that, but if he wanted to state the obvious, then we weren't going to stop him. After all, the chuunin exams were coming up soon.

Author's Notes:

Well, sorry for being so late with this chapter. I just have been having a writer's block. I kept on debating with myself over whether or not to give Naruto Zabuza's sword this early in the fic. Combined with stuff happening with real life, it turned into a mire of days between even opening the file to work on it. In the end, I'm still not too happy with how I wrote that passage. Seems too deus ex for me. But tell me what you think. Just click the button at the bottom of the page and write what you think. Any thoughts are appreciated. Also, send me a message if you want to edit this. It'll probably be a while before I draft the first chapter, but if I have an editor, it will be better and come sooner. Until next time!


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